In many applications, it is necessary to control the phase of microwave signals travelling in waveguides from one point in space to another, for example, to and from microwave antennas, transmitters, receivers and other microwave loads. In this regard, various practical non-reciprocal gyromagnetic phase shift devices have been previously suggested.
Non-reciprocal gyromagnetic phase shift devices are widely used in the design of waveguide devices. Typically, non-reciprocal gyromagnetic phase shift device are coupled with other waveguide devices to form a microwave circuit having certain properties. Such non-reciprocal gyromagnetic phase shift devices typically include a pair of side-by-side waveguide sections having ferrite-containing materials and providing the phase shift functionality.
A deficiency associated with many non-reciprocal gyromagnetic phase shift devices used to control the phase of microwave signals travelling in waveguides is that they are bulky and/or have insufficient power capability and/or suffer from performance degradation due to insufficient cooling during operation.
In light of the above, there is a need to provide improved non-reciprocal gyromagnetic phase shift devices that alleviate at least in part the deficiencies of the existing devices.